This weekend, Raleigh is experiencing some of the coldest temperatures of the season. The cold is on everyone’s mind. I’m not afraid to admit that I don’t like cold weather. I’m a cold weather wimp. And this may sound cheesy, but every night when I get in bed, I am consciously aware of the house being warm and being grateful for that.
I remember back to the early 1980’s when I had just left a career in public accounting and had started working with a ministry providing firewood to families in need of heat in their homes. I vividly remember visiting a family—the Douglasses—in their home in the middle of a Virginia winter. They called out for me to let myself in and when I did I found the family—mom, dad, and two kids all in bed under massive amounts of covers and then I noticed—the glass of water on the counter—FROZEN solid.
That image led me to join with others to help get Habitat for Humanity started in that city and to remain passionate about families not being cold ever since. I’m continually grateful for the volunteers who get themselves out of their warm homes early on a Saturday morning to brave freezing temperatures and windy conditions. It is this service above self that our faith teaches us and that our Habitat volunteers live every day!